Anata's Story
by InvaderQix
Summary: Anata was never that ugly. She wasn't a natural born Pretty either. She had a friend named Kari, but when Kari became pretty, she abandoned Anata. Now it's Anata's turn to become pretty. She's determined to remember her new friend Monika. She also wants to be the most beautiful Pretty in all of New Pretty Town. But what if beauty and friends aren't enough? What if she wants more?
1. Anata Komatsu

Ever since I was a littlie, I've dreamt of being the most beautiful girl in New Pretty Town.

I was popular among the other Uglies in my dorm because I wasn't as ugly as everyone else. I wasn't a natural born Pretty, but I wasn't really all that ugly either. I had short black hair, brown eyes, a long nose and somewhat thin lips. I wasn't too happy with my face, and I couldn't wait till my 16th birthday

My best friend was Kari. She was really ugly. We called her Frizzle, because her hair looked like that of Ms. Frizzle from an old Rusty children's book series called The Magic School Bus. She was also covered in freckles, had a wide nose and pasty skin.

Kari and I were like sisters. We always shared clothes and chores and sometimes slept in each other's rooms. I knew, even when she became a pretty a whole year before I did, that friend ship would last.

Except… it didn't.

I pinged her a couple of times. She didn't reply to me until two weeks later. She told me to meet her by the river, and to hide until she got there.

I did everything she said. When she _finally_ showed up, an hour late and drunk off of her ass, she only had one thing to say to me.

"Go home. Don't come back here until your birthday. You don't belong here. You're nothing but a bogus Ugly."

With that, she stumbled away to her pretty friends. I went back my dorm and I cried all night. The next morning I woke up, determined to be the best Pretty I could be next year.

I attended all of my classes, did all of my chores and went to bed at night like a good little Ugly. I even became a little more social. During my last year as an Ugly, I had found a new best friend in Monika. She was only a month younger than me, so she wouldn't have to wait long to join me in New Pretty Town.

"Take this with you Anata." She handed me an orange and blue friendship bracelet, a cute little thing Rusties used to make for their friends.

"I love it Monika! I made one for you too." I handed her a purple and blue one.

"This way, when you become pretty and I'm still stuck as an ugly for another bogus month, we can still remember each other." She said sadly. I hugged her tightly.

"It's only a month. When you get the surgery, we'll start our own clique! I'll never forget you Squishy." Monika's ugly nickname was Squishy because she was really pudgy and when you hugged her, it felt like hugging a squishy pillow.

"Anata? We should get going now." My dad Topher stood in the doorway.

I turned and hugged Monika one more time. I tied the bracelet tightly around my wrist. No way I'd treat Monika the way that bitch Kari treated me. She can be a bogus friend if she wants to, but I certainly won't be crawling back to her anytime soon.

The ride to New Pretty Town Hospital seemed to take hours. I knew what I wanted done to my face. I wanted green eyes with jewel dust, a shorter nose and fuller lips. Of course, I'd be taller and olive skinned like every other pretty.

Finally, we reached the hospital. I followed the nurse to the surgery room. Suddenly, I wanted to run the other way. The tank was huge and I thought I would drown in there.

"Anata, there's nothing to be scared of. We'll give you a breathing tube and you won't feel a thing. In just a few hours, you'll walk out as beautiful as any other pretty in town!" the nurse smiled at me.

_'There's just one small problem.' _I thought silently. _'I want to be the most beautiful Pretty in all of New Pretty Town.' _

The nurse helped me up onto the bed. They hooked up my breathing tube and strapped me down.

"Just relax Anata. You'll be pretty soon." The nurse said, then the world was dark.


	2. Becoming Pretty

I woke up on a hospital bed. I looked around and gasped. Everything was so… clear. I saw two pictures on the far right wall. It was me, as a bogus Ugly, then the other one was a Pretty with long brown hair, green eyes, a cute little nose and plump lips. I wished I could look like her.

The door on my left opened and the nurse from before came in.

"Do you like your new look Anata?" she asked. I was confused. What new look? Had I even had the surgery yet?

The nurse handed me a mirror. I looked in it and sighed happily. The brown haired girl _was _me. I was pretty!

"I'm beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. Wow…"

The nurse squatted down and handed me a clear bag. "Here are your clothes Anata. When you're ready, a warden car will take you to Komachi Mansion."

"Thank you." I said to her. She simply smiled and walked out of the room.

I began to dress excitedly. I was finally pretty! Now I could live in New Pretty Town and go to lots of bubbly bashes and make new friends! As I pulled my shoes out of the bag, a small blue and orange thing fell out. I picked it up and stared at it.

It was somehow familiar. It was so bogus that I couldn't remember who it was from. I stuffed it in my pocket; I'd have to look at it later. Right now I just wanted to go to my mansion and try out the hole in the wall.

I walked out to the front of the hospital. My bogus old dorm uniform barely fit me now, since it was made for my short ugly body. I looked around the lobby. There were two middle Pretties comforting their Ugly daughter and two other new pretties looking around like I was.

"Anata?" I remembered that bogus voice from somewhere.

I looked at the Pretty in front of me. She had long curly red hair, blue eyes and a huge smile on her face.

"Don't you remember me? It's me, Kari! Did you just get the surgery? You look totally pretty-making! Zane would say that your face is like, a million mini- Helens or something like that. Oh my God, you should totally join the Crims with me! They are sooo bubbly-making!"

I was beginning to remember who she was. How we were best friends. Then the surgery tore us apart.

"Anata, are you listening to me? Look, I'll ping you later, kay? It's so bubby that you're finally a pretty now. I knew you would survive the year. I'll see you later!"

Kari sauntered out of the hospital. I had barely listened to her babbling. She'd been my friend as an Ugly, but brushed me off when she became pretty. How bogus.

I walked outside to the nearest warden car.

"Anata Komatsu?" the warden asked.

"Yes." I squeaked. I was so nervous. Totally not bubbly.

The warden helped me into the car and I buckled my seat belt. She started the car and we drove off.

The ride to Komachi wasn't too bad. The warden flashed me the occasional smile. She had a really bubbly smile. I smiled back at her.

"I remember when I was a New Pretty. It's always scary at first, but soon you'll fit right in."

The warden dropped me off in front of a huge building that looked like a Japanese pagoda. It was so pretty-making. A huge crowd of Pretties stood in front of it. One of them, a girl with light brownish-red hair stepped forward.

"Hi Anata. I'm Tally Youngblood. I'll show you around Komachi, okay?"

I smiled at her. I kind of remembered her. She had frizzy hair like Kari back when we were Uglies.

Kari. Thinking about her really hurt. I pushed away the old thoughts and followed Tally inside.

"This is your room here. Mine's called Etcetera."

I looked inside the room. It was gorgeous. I ran in and gasped in awe. It was so huge! The bed in the middle of the room looked soft and inviting, so I ran right towards it. I jumped and landed in a sea of plushness. So. Bubbly!

"_Welcome home Anata-la. My name is Kabuki. Please let me know how I can help you get settled in." _the room said.

"Um.. can I have a breakfast tray? I'm starving." I said. Through all the excitement, I'd completely forgot that I'd had nothing to eat.

"_What would you like to eat Anata-la?" _the room said.

"Um…" I couldn't think of anything.

"Bring some lobster omelets, chocolate muffins and coffee." Tally told the room. All that food sounded so bubbly.

I stared at the wall. I walked over to the huge hole and looked inside it.

_"Do you want me to make you something to wear?" _the room asked.

"T-tally?" I stuttered. She walked over to me.

"Tell it exactly what you want. Whatever doesn't come out right, you can recycle."

I looked at the hole again. "I want a dress with a mermaid bodice. Lots of ruffles. Taffeta, in sea green. Oh, and lots of pretty-making sparkles, to match my eyes!"

Suddenly I was surrounded by nanos. My dorm outfit disappeared and the exact dress I'd described formed onto my body.

"Bubbly!" I shouted. I twirled around, marveling in the dress's beauty. A perfect dress for a perfect pretty. I walked over to my bed and sat down again. I felt something under my hand. It was the orange and blue thingy that was in my hospital bag.

'_Who gave this to me? Why can't I remember?' _I thought.

"Here's your breakfast tray, Anata!" Tally called out. I beckoned the tray towards me and dug in. The food was amazing! I didn't hold back, I ate every single bite. I tipped my head back and drank the coffee in a few gulps. It was the best breakfast I'd ever had.

"Well, is there anything else you need before I go?" Tally asked. I shook my head. "I'm alright. I'll ping you later!"

Tally waved at me, then walked out of the room. I sat up and looked at the tray. There was nothing left but a glass of water and two small packets.

"Kabuki, what are these?" I said, holding up the packets.

_"Those are calorie-purgers Anata-la. You eat them after every meal to maintain your weight."_

I warily popped them out of the package and into my mouth. Picking up the glass, I swallowed them. The water was nice and cool. I remembered drinking water a lot as an ugly.

Suddenly, an image popped into my head. Me as an ugly, in front of a water fountain, and girl with limp blonde hair, lots of pimples and a snaggle-toothed smile.

As quickly as it came, the image was gone. I lay down on my bed, confused. Who was she? Why were all my memories so bogusly scrambled?

"Kabuki, I want a bottle of champagne. Now." I stood up and took my beautiful mermaid dress off, carefully hanging it on a hanger. I walked back to the hole in the wall.

"Sweatpants. Purple. T-shirt, blue." I don't know why I picked those colors. It was weird.

The nanos swirled around me again and gave me exactly what I wanted, as it should.

I lay down on the bed, curled into a ball, and slept.


	3. Super Bubbly

I woke up to really bubbly fireworks, as always. So far, this first month in New Pretty Town wasn't so bad. I was working my way up to Crim status, but it was very slow work. So far, I'd crashed every party they'd been to and not left without making a dramatic exit. Of course, bungeeing off of the top of the mansions got old after a while, so I tended to wear crazy costumes while doing it. Last time, I was wearing an actual mermaid outfit instead of just a dress. Attached to my top was a bubble blower, which made all the Crims go crazy trying to pop them.

I sighed, got up off the bed and walked over to the hole in the wall.

"Kabuki, we're gonna have a fashion show." I said, smiling widely.

I examined my mermaid dress again. It was a totally bubbly dress.

"Okay, I want another mermaid bodice dress, but this one, I want to be a dark soulful blue, like the night sky. I want it in taffeta with lots of bubbly glitter on it."

The nanos swirled around me and my vision appeared. It was so bubbly! I took it off and threw it on my bed. I placed the green one back in the closet.

"I want a silk a-line gown in gold with lots of glitter and a 2 foot long train. Also, some matching silk gloves, but don't put glitter on the gloves."

After the dress was finished, I hung it up in the closet. The hole made me some more bubbly dresses to wear and I hung them all up.

"Hmm…ah! I forgot shoes! Make me some dark blue suede pumps to match my mermaid dress!"

I walked in my new heels over where my dress lay. I slipped it on and pinned my hair up into a bubbly braided bun. I twisted my interface ring to check if I got any pings. There were five from Kari, which I immediately deleted, and then there was one from Tally, asking me to check out the hover rink over Nefertiti Stadium.

"Kabuki, how safe is the hover rink?" I asked.

_"In the chance of the ice breaking, which is very highly doubtful, everyone is required to wear bungee jackets. It's very safe."_

I twisted the ring again.

"Ping Tally. Tally-wa? It's Anata. I'll come to the hover rink. I can't wait to show you my bubbly new dress!"

I ran out of the room, excited to meet up with the Crims.

"Anata-la! You made it! Oh wow, your dress is so bubbly! It looks amazing on you!" Tally hugged me happily. Her flash tattoo spun wildly.

"I'm glad to be here." I put on a pair of skates and carefully stepped out onto the rink. Tally waved at me then went to talk to another pretty named Shay.

I spun around and glided across the ice. It was so bubbly-making, everything looked so clear to me. I looked at the fireworks underneath us. So pretty-making. I saw purple and blue ones and another scene flashed in my mind.

_The blonde girl handed me the orange and blue thing and I gave her a purple and blue one._

_"I love it!" I said. She smiled sadly and hugged me. Then I saw my dad in the doorway._

I gasped. The day I became pretty, that thing was given to me. But who was the girl?

"Anata-la!" Great, just what I needed. Stupid bogus Kari.

I skated away from her and towards Tally. I grabbed Tally's hand and spun her around. She giggled and did a figure eight around me. I grabbed a champagne flute from Shay's outstretched hand and poured myself some.

I loved champagne. It was just so… bubbly! I tilted the flute back and gulped down the bubbly goodness.

"Anata-la!" Damn that Kari! Why won't she just give up?

"Anata-la, why are you ignoring me? I've waited all this time for you to be pretty and now you're just-"

"Shut up." I said. I glared at Kari. "You _abandoned_ me! You think just because I'm pretty now means that we're automatically friends again? No. You have to earn my friendship Kari!"

My heart was racing. There it was, that super bubbly moment that I got whenever I got emotional. Everything was clear, the stares of the Crims, and the hurt in Kari's face.

_The blonde girl raced over to me. I was nursing my hurting shoulders. I hated falling off my hoverboard._

_"Hey, are you okay? That fall looked totally ouching."_

_I smirked at her. "It was totally ouching, but I'll survive. What's your name? I'm Anata."_

_She smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Monika. Nice to meet you!"_

"Monika." I whispered. The anger, this outburst helped me remember who she was finally. I smiled, happy that I'd finally solved the mystery. But then I remembered where I was and what had just happened.

The chill of the cold air from the ice rink made my hands shake. I clenched them together and took in a deep breath.

"You were never a true friend to me Kari. Otherwise, you would have tried to stay in contact while I was still Ugly. For that, I'll never forgive you."

I skated to the entrance of the rink and pinged a warden car. I wanted nothing more than to go back to my room and sleep.

"Hmm… I want a red and black striped dress in silk, floor length and formfitting. I also want black knee high leather boots."

Today was the day. My friend Monika, the one I've finally remembered, is becoming pretty!

"Can I have a matching parasol?"

I went downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed a breakfast basket. Then I sent her a ping.

"Hi Monika-la, it's Anata. I'm so glad you're finally becoming pretty! I'll be outside Komachi mansion to show you around. Isn't it so bubbly that we get to live in the same mansion together? I'll see you after the surgery!"

I smiled and sat on a bench outside of the mansion. I opened up my parasol and decided to Pretty-watch. Lots of Hot-Airs were out and about today. Tally and Zane were wandering off as they usually did. I didn't see any other Crims though. I sighed. I wished they'd hurry up and vote me in already.

After about an hour of sitting and waiting I finally saw a warden car drive by. A girl with bubbly blonde ringlets and blue-green eyes stepped out. Could it be?

"Monika?" I called out. She turned and looked at me. She didn't seem to recognize me at first, but then she smiled and ran over to me.

"Anata! You look so bubbly! I got your ping, I'm so happy we get to live in the same mansion! It'll be like the ugly days, except we're pretty!"

We walked into Komachi and up to her room, which was on the top floor, five doors away from mine.

"Mine is called Kabuki. It's so bubbly!"

We walked into her room and she was instantly entranced.

"This room is so not bogus! Finally, my ugly days are over!"

_"Welcome home Monika-la. My name is Blue Cloud. Please let me know how I can help you to get settled in."_

I pulled Monika over to the hole in the wall.

"This is your very own nano manufacture unit, aka, the hole in the wall. Tell it what clothes you want and they'll form right onto your body. Anything you don't want or doesn't come out right can be recycled."

Monika stared at it hesitantly, then said "I want a black and white checkered dress, with a puffy skirt. Knee length with puff sleeves and black arm warmers. Also some red and black striped stockings and black ballet flats."

The clothes formed on her. She looked so cute, like Malice in the Underland or whatever that Rusty story was called.

"Well Monika, if you're hungry, I brought a breakfast basket." I opened the basket and lifted the food out of it. The trays wobbled in the air, I may have grabbed too much food.

"You're such a doll Anata. I'm starved."

She grabbed a tray with lobster omelets and hash browns and dug in. I nibbled on a chocolate muffin and sipped a Bloody Mary. I reached in the basket and handed Monika a pack of calorie purgers.

"What's that?" she asked while chewing on a hash brown.

"It's a packet of calorie purgers. You take them after every meal to maintain your weight." I handed her a glass of champagne.

"So you mean if I don't take these, I'll get fat again? How bogus." She washed down the purgers with a healthy swallow of champagne.

"Hey." I nudged her. She looked at me, her eyes shone with happiness.

"I have someone I want you to meet."

"Ooh, a new boyfriend?" she gave me a knowing look.

"No, not a new boyfriend. She's even cooler than that." I said, holding out my hand. She took it and we left together.

"Monika, this is Tally. Tally, this is Monika, my best friend in the whole world!"

Tally smiled at her and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. Have you joined any cliques yet?"

Monika shook her head. "Not yet. I wanted to start a clique with Anata-la, but now I think it's kind of bogus. A clique dedicated to making friendship bracelets for each other."

They both laughed and I managed to cough out a laugh, shoving the friendship bracelet under my sleeve.

"Well, if you can prove to us that you're Crim material, then you can join our clique." Tally said, gesturing to the other Crims.

_'Huh.' _I thought. _'Tally never offered to let me join the Crims. I've been spending the past month trying to get their attention. How bogus.'_

"Is Anata-la a Crim?" Monika asked. I kicked her.

Tally laughed. "Not yet, but maybe she will be soon. _If_ she does something extra tricky."

Extra tricky? Like what exactly?

It was then that I began formulating a plot. To do a good trick, I needed to be super bubbly. To be super bubbly, I needed to get over emotional.

I knew exactly what to do.


	4. On the Outside Looking In

I wore my gold dress and gloves to Nefertiti Stadium. Monika told me the Crims were planning some bubbly trick and to bring a flask with me. If the Crims were planning a trick, I knew it would make me bubbly. I was upset that Tally didn't invite me herself. I thought she would have, since I've been doing a whole bunch of bubbly tricks for the Crims.

Monika and I skated hand in hand, twirling around and spraying ice everywhere. For a while, I lost myself in the music and the fireworks. This moment was almost enough to make me bubbly. Then I skated past Kari. She glared at me and I glared right back. I felt the haze start to shift. It seemed like anger helped me become bubbly better than other emotions.

I picked up speed and felt like I was flying. The Crims all stared at me as I neared an edge. I heard Monika cry out in fear, and leaning towards my left I dodged the wall. The near collision cleared the haze even more, but it still wasn't enough. I decided to wait until the Crims pulled their trick. I skidded up next to Monika and smiled at her.

"Oh my God Anata-la, you scared the crap out of me! What were you trying to do, smash your face open?!"

I held her hands in my shaking ones. This time, the cold wasn't making me shiver, but the feeling of bubbliness.

"Monika-la, I'm bubbly. The speed, the adrenaline, the fear of almost hitting that edge, it made me bubbly! The haze is clearing Monika-la!"

"I don't even know what you're talking about. What haze?"

I blinked in confusion. "The bubblehead haze. Haven't you ever noticed how it disappears when you're bubbly?"

Monika shook her head and skated away from me. I sighed. My bubbly was going away, so I crept closer to the Crims.

"-can't believe she thinks she's Crim material. Bungee jumping doesn't count as Crim." I heard Shay mumble. I almost shouted in anger at her, but I didn't.

"She's not exactly Crim, but she's okay to hang out with. She and I used to be in the same dorm, but she never pulled any major tricks. Just snuck out a lot. She may have crossed the river once." I heard Tally say.

"Big deal. She's still not Crim material. Not only that, but it's annoying that she's always following us. How did she find out about this trick anyways?" Shay retorted.

"I don't know. I didn't tell her about it. I never told her about any of the parties either. I didn't think she'd find us here." Tally said.

I heard enough. I skated away angrily. The haze was lifting again. I was livid as ever. I didn't need this trick to make me bubbly. I closed my eyes and drifted, letting my momentum carry me across the ice. The chill was somewhat comforting, and my anger slowly melted away. Even if I didn't have what it took to be a Crim, I still had Monika. I was about to skate over to her to apologize for being so bogus, when the world fell from under my feet.

I screamed in terror. I was going to die! I was only sixteen years old and I was going to die!

Suddenly, I felt a tugging around my torso. Then I remembered that was wearing a bungee jacket, that everyone had to wear a bungee jacket in case the ice broke.

I looked for Monika, but I couldn't find her. Then I shot up into the air and for the first time in my life, I really used my eyes. The clouds, the fireworks the other Pretties were truly clear to me for the first time. This is what it meant to be bubbly.

After the trick, we were questioned by wardens and newscasters. I shied away from it all. I went back home and slept for a long time, waking up at midnight. When I checked my interface ring, I had one ping from Monika saying how excited and happy she was because she was a Crim now.

I fell back on my pillow. I hated my life. I thought when I became pretty, I'd always be happy, but now my life was totally bogus.

I jumped off the bed and walked to the hole in the wall.

"I want dark gray jeans, a gray ribbed tank top, black leather knee high boots, and a black denim jacket."

I hung the new outfit up and sat on my bed. The outfit would gather attention, no doubt. It was a Rusty outfit, but I loved it.

"Kabuki, I wanna reserve the pool tomorrow for an evening bash. I'm inviting everyone in Komachi Mansion _except _for the Crims that live here. I'm gonna need lots of bubbly food and drink, and lots of pretty making decorations."

_"I'll alert the requisition center."_ The room said.

Turning back to the hole in the wall, I said "I want a shimmery gold bikini, matching sandals and sunglasses and a happy-making gold ribbon for my hair."

Hanging the outfit up, I pulled on my nightclothes and sat on my bed. I breathed in and out.

"Kabuki, I want this bash to be extra bubbly, so don't let the Crims ruin it!"

_"I will see to it that the Crims are kept away from the bash. Goodnight Anata-la."_

I chuckled. "Goodnight Kabuki." I fell back onto my bed and finally found sleep again.


	5. Being Accepted

I looked up at the early morning sky. Everyone was staring at me. I truly looked Rusty. I pinged for a warden car to take me to the hospital. Shoving my hands in my jeans pockets, I tapped my foot to the music playing from my skintenna.

After five minutes, a warden car pulled up next to me. I climbed in and waved to the Pretties still staring up at me. The warden chuckled.

"It seems you've made quite the impression with that outfit. Trying to start a new clique?"

I shook my head. "I'm just trying to be me."

"Typical Pretties don't wear those kinds of outfits you know." He stopped in front of the hospital.

I barked out a short laugh. "That's because I'm not a typical Pretty. I'm not in a clique, I don't have a lot of friends and I like a lot of Rusty era stuff."

He chuckled again. "I think the oddball Pretties are even more beautiful. They're their own individual person and that makes them pretty special."

I looked at him. He was definitely a Pretty, but his features were slightly sharper. His eyes were dark and showed no emotion. It creeped me out. I got out of the car and rushed into the hospital.

"Hello young lady. What can I help you with today?"  
"My name is Anata Komatsu. I'm having a bash today so I wanted to have a quick eye surge. Just some silver and gold jewel dust implants."

"Okay Anata, just have a seat and a surgeon will be with you shortly."

I think 'a surgeon will be with you shortly' meant 'you'll be sitting there for a while so read a magazine and eat some cookies', and that's exactly what I did. For a while, I thought I wasn't gonna be able to get my eye surge which would have been totally bogus, when a nurse finally called my name. I followed her to the surgery room and let them strap me down.

"Just relax and you'll be up and about in a few hours sweetie!" the nurse said to me and I went under.

When I woke up, the room was spinning. I took in a few deep breaths and looked at the pictures on the wall.

The first picture showed my eyes after the pretty surge, which were green with green jewel dust. The second picture showed my eyes which were green with gold and silver jewel dust.

"So pretty-making!" I smiled. Now I was ready for my bash. I got dressed and decided to walk back to Komachi. I was sure the wardens were tired of me pinging them to take me everywhere.

It was a nice day. Despite all the staring, I enjoyed the walk home. There was still a lot of stuff I had to do for the bash, so I went to the pool to see how everything was going.

A few middle Pretties and hoverbots were busy hanging up decorations and setting up food tables. I waved at them and gave them the thumbs up. I really liked the gold curtains and silver tablecloths they were using. My bash would be so shaming compared to any Crim bash, since, everyone was invited except for them.

I went to my room to inspect my eyes again. The gold and silver jewel dust would definitely compliment my bikini. Putting it on, I tried a bunch of different hairstyles. After fifteen minutes, I decided to do a ponytail with a few strands of my hair braided, then tied it up with my yellow ribbon.

"It's time for my bash Kabuki. Did you remember to send out the ping?"

_"How could I forget?"_

"That's why you're a good little room." I said, and then went down to the pool.

I was greeted by a long line of Pretties in their swimsuits. They all started cheering when I walked past them and I glanced behind me just to make sure I was the one they were cheering for.

A middle pretty bouncer stopped me at the door. "Anata Komatsu?" he asked.

"The one and only." I said. He pushed open the door and I walked it, surprised by my surroundings. The pool looked magical. There were sparkly gold and silver curtains everywhere and the pool toys were all gold and silver, just how I wanted it. The pretties slowly filed in and headed for the water and food tables. I grabbed a champagne flute and quickly downed it. I loved the taste of it. Running towards the pool, I dived in gracefully.

I looked at all the pretty legs submerged in the water. I weaved in and out between them and popped up in between two female Pretties. They looked startled at first but then started to giggle.

"Bubbly party Anata-la. Glad I was invited." The blonde one said.

"So shaming compared to my birthday bash."" The redhead sighed.

I smiled at her. "I guess you'll have to make your next birthday bash twice as shaming as this party then. " I ducked under the water again and swam towards the water slide. I climbed out of the pool and to the top of the slide and shouted "Who wants to go on the water slide with me?"

A bunch of pretties lined up at the slide and I giggled. Were they really having this much fun?

"Hi Anata-la." The first one said to me. She had light brown hair in big voluminous curls. "My name's Kristianna."

I shook her hand. "Bubbly name!" She grabbed me around the waist and we slid down, giggling madly the whole way down. I ended up sliding with fifteen pretties, but the two who interested me the most were Kristianna and Darren. Kristianna was good with tech stuff and Darren was also rejected by the Crims. He had his own clique. The Rejects.

All of the invitees enjoyed the bash and were still talking about even after it was over. My interface ring was overflowing with pings. I was happy, I felt accepted for once in my life.

I walked back to my room with Kristianna and Darren, talking excitedly and drying our hair. We'd almost gotten back to my room when we ran into Tally and Monika.

"You're all wet. Where were you, I've been trying to ping you all day!" Monika whined.

"I was at my pool bash. Didn't you hear about it?" She was about to talk but I interrupted her. "Oh wait, I just remembered, I strictly said Crims weren't invited."

"Why would you do that?' Monika asked, obviously hurt.

"If I'm not good enough for the Crims, the Crims aren't good enough for me Monika That includes you. I bet neither of you even fought for me when it came time to vote me in."

"That's not true! I fought for you! Tally fought for you! We wanted you to be a Crim, we really did!"

"Then why am I not a Crim?" With that, we walked past them and into my room.

"What would you guys like for dinner?" I asked.

"I heard the lasagna Bolognese is pretty good." Darren said. I'd never tried it.

"Kabuki, three dinner trays with lasagna Bolognese, and three bottles of champagne." I said.

I grabbed a towel and squeezed out my hair. I really needed to take a shower. My skin felt like it was covered in film, which is why I never really went swimming as an Ugly.

"Do you wanna use the shower after I'm done?" I asked. They both shrugged.

I unbraided my hair and stepped into the shower. The warm water soothed me and I thoroughly washed my hair and body. Just to enjoy the warm water, I stayed in there an extra five minutes. Then I stepped out and dried myself off. The reflection in the mirror was beautiful. I thought about going back to my old green jewel dust, but I liked my new gold and silver so much.

"Well, I guess I'll be wearing gold and silver from now on." I said to the empty space.

I walked back into my room and a little dinner tray floated over to me. Leading it to the bed, I sat down and dug in. The lasagna was amazing, like all of the food in New Pretty Town. As always, I ate every bite and immediately took the calorie purgers afterwards. Sometimes, I'd forget to take them and then I'd have to run to the gym to work it off.

"Why is it that New Pretty Town food tastes loads better than Uglyville food?" Kristianna asked.

"Why else? Pretties are more privileged than Uglies." I said.

"But why? Why can't we have all of this stuff as Uglies?"

I thought for a second. "It's like Rusty fame. Having more money got you more things. A majority of Rusty celebrities were more attractive than non-celebrities. Everyone wanted their life. We Pretties are like Rusty celebrities compared to Uglies."

Kristianna looked down at her hands. "We're so perfect. Perfect people always get what they want."

"No." I stood up and looked out of my window at the fireworks. "I didn't get what I wanted. Neither did Darren. We wanted to be Crims, but they didn't think we were 'Crim material'. We might look perfect, but we're still flawed."

Darren walked up to me. "That's why I started the Rejects. For all the flawed Pretties who didn't get what they wanted. For every Pretty who didn't get into the clique they wanted to, they have a shot at ours. And I want you to be a Reject with us."

I looked at him. "Me? You want me?"

"Of course. You're beautiful, kind, you're bubbly. You have a heart, unlike most Pretties. You're flawed, and you accept it."

Giggling, I said "Everyone here is Pretty Darren-la. But not everyone is Ugly minded. I'm Ugly minded."

I walked over to my closet and started recycling all of the dresses and shoes; save for my Rusty outfit and boots. "Maybe that's what being a reject is. Being Ugly minded."

Walking to the hole in the wall, I said "I want a yellow ribbed tank top and a long cotton skirt in white, two layered and with floral print. Hmm… make the skirt flare wider. That's better, okay now I want white high heeled sandals."

I twirled in front of the mirror. It was Rusty and I loved it. In fact, Rusty was my forte.

"You make Rusty look good Anata." Kristianna said.

"Rusty is my forte. I'm inspired by Rusty clothing."

Kristianna walked up next to me. "I want a black tank top and stonewashed jeans. Black high heeled crinkle boots. Make the jeans a little tighter. Okay, now a black silk choker."

"Very Rusty Kristianna-la." I said, nudging her.

Darren walked up in between us. "I want a long sleeved black cotton shirt and gray jeans. Slightly ripped. Also some black Converse-style sneakers."

We all looked in the mirror. Three beautiful Rusties stared back at us. One with long dark brown hair, one with light brown curls, and one with long blonde hair.

"Well Rejects, we have a meeting tonight, so let's dash." Darren said. We all left Komachi and headed towards the transmission tower near Valentino Mansion.


	6. Tricky Nightmares

Darren led us under the transmission tower to a little shack. There were five other Pretties inside. They all greeted us, and Kristianna and Darren stood in front of them.

"Rejects, meet our new member Anata. She was also rejected by the Crims. She's Ugly minded and as you can see, prefers to dress in Rusty fashion." Darren said, gesturing towards me.

I waved shyly. "Hi." I said.

"Anata, you've already acquainted yourself with Kristianna, but here are our other members, Kodi, Merry, Apolla, her sister Paolla, and Jayde."

I eyed each of them carefully. Kodi had blue eyes, short red hair and a mischievous smile on his face, Merry had brown eyes and pin straight black hair, Apolla and Paolla could practically be twins, they had the same blonde bobs, red lips and bright blue eyes.

Jayde was unlike any other Pretty. She had blonde hair with streaks every color of the rainbow scattered throughout. Her eyes were like fire opals, with green jewel dust glinting against them. I was awestruck. I thought I was unique? Not compared to Jayde.

"I know that look. It's the first look I get from every Pretty who's never seen me before." She said, smirking at me.

"You look amazing. I mean it. You have a lot of courage going against the Pretty Committee standards!"

Jayde laughed. "Oh please. Dying your hair black like Merry does is going against the Bogus Bubblehead Committee standards."

I giggled. If Darren wasn't the leader of the Rejects, Jayde would be a shoo-in.

Darren cleared his throat. "Yes, anyways. We all know what to do. Tomorrow, Anata gets her honorary Reject flash tattoo. Tonight, we get bubbly."

Kristianna disappeared into a corner and came back with an armload of tools I had no idea how to use.

"Um… are we hacking into something?" I asked quietly. Kristianna got to work, typing rapidly and connecting the tools to each other.

Merry came up beside me. "We're hacking Tally Youngblood's interface ring. It was so easy; she left it tied to a reed in a pleasure garden not too far from here. Guess she and Zane were too busy starving themselves and playing tricks to care whether their rings got stolen or not. Of course, we left a fake ring. It's not like she'd notice, she ignores everybody all the time."

I sat next to Kristianna. I tried to look at her screen, but she swatted me away.

"Sorry Anata, but I can't work with you hovering over me. Anyways, to answer your question, we're hacking into Tally Youngblood's interface ring to hack her party invites. There's a big bash coming up, and it's strictly cliques, and since we're technically a clique, we're getting into that party too."

"Cool", I said, "But what are we gonna do at that party? Pull a trick? Annoy the Crims?"

Kristianna shrugged. "We have two days to plan it out. What do you think we should do?"

I looked out of the small, dusty window. The moon was full, bright and big.

Most of all, it was beautiful.

"The moon doesn't need surgery to be beautiful. It just is all by itself." I mused. I began tracing the shapes of its craters into the dust on the window.

I lost myself in my art. Thoughts were flying through my head. If nature could be beautiful on it's own, why couldn't we be? Why did we have to be fixed? Sure, being pretty got you lots of benefits, but why only pretty people? Even back in the Rusty days, pretty people got more respect.

I turned and looked at the rest of the Rejects. All of them were strikingly beautiful, but all of them were Ugly-minded, fighting the pretty haze every day. Kristianna was blinking wildly, sinking into the pretty haze while trying to hack the ring. Jayde absentmindedly polished her nails hot pink. Apolla and Paolla were chatting with Merry and Kodi. The only truly bubbly one of them left was Darren. He seemed to be thinking really hard about something; his eyebrows set in a grim frown.

Without even thinking, I smashed my fist into the old window. Shards flew everywhere, and my hand throbbed.

"Anata, what the hell?" All of them stared at me, half questioning, half frightened.

I stared each and every one of them in the eyes.

"No one in this room is bubbly except for Darren and I. You _need_ to stay bubbly no matter what. Whatever happens in the operating room changes us drastically, but you still need to fight it. Fight, damnit. Fight it!"

I ripped a sliver of cloth from my shirt and wrapped my hand in it. Darren was breathing hard now, his bright eyes shadowed by fear.

I sighed and said "Let's go back to our rooms. We can continue this tomorrow. I'm sorry for the outburst."

I walked out of the shed and back to Komachi. I couldn't tell if they were walking behind me or still in the shed. I figured they were too frightened of me to follow me. Oh well.

When I got back to my room, I washed the blood off my hands and sprayed fake skin on them. I was still in my dirty, ripped clothing when I finally fell asleep.

_That night, I had terrible nightmares. I was being chased by pretty giants with scalpels and glass shards. They sprayed fake skin webs in front of me, trying to catch me, but somehow I kept running. I tripped and just when I thought my life was over, I was saved. When I looked up, I stared into the face of a wolf. It was a beautiful wolf, a female I think. It nuzzled me and helped me out of the forest, watching me like a hawk. We reached the edge of the forest, the she-wolf ripped away a large tree branch, which revealed an amazing oasis. I ran for the water and guzzled it down. I felt something in me changing, though I ignored it. When I reached up to wash my face, but found that my hands were now paws. My vision was extremely clear, even more so than when I was bubbly. I could sense the oasis all around me. I could smell everything, but the most prominent thing was… the she-wolf's excitement. She nuzzled me again, but this time, she was my height._

_I stared into the water. I was a she-wolf, like her._


	7. Pulchritude at Pulcher Mansion

I woke up in a sweat. My breathing was ragged. My hands shot out up in front of me and for a second, I was reliving the nightmare, thinking my hands were wolf's paws. Almost screaming, I realized they were my hands. My normal human hands. I also realized I was still in last night's clothes. Sighing and stripping, I shoved the clothes into the recycler. I walked over to the hole in the wall and mumbled a request for a black tank top and black jeans, putting my hair into a messy bun and slipping my tall black boots on.

I was almost done recycling all of my old dresses when I heard a ping. It was Kristianna.

"Hey Kristianna-la, what's-"I started to say and she shushed me. I heard a weird tumbling noise and Monika's voice.

"-she was obsessed with you Tally and with being a Crim. She constantly begged me to tell her where the bashes would be so she could wear those ridiculous costumes and crash the parties. I only told her because I felt sorry for her." I heard Monika say.

"Wait a minute." Another voice said. Shay?

"You weren't even a Pretty until just before the floating ice rink broke. How would you have been able to tell Anata where the parties were?"

Monika started sputtering and I slowly slipped out of my bedroom and into the hallway. Kristianna turned, then ushered me forward.

"W-well, you see, I ah-um, have a few friends that were Pretties at the time and- um, one of them was a Crim, and he told me that-uh-um…"

I turned the ping off and slipped off my ring, placing it in Kristianna's hand, walked up to them and put my hand on Monika's shoulder. She turned and her wide eyes grew even wider when she saw me.

"It's kind of hard for you to be able to tell me where the bashes were when I wasn't even able to remember your name until the day before you had the surgery, Monika." I glared at Tally, and she looked away.

"Tally was the one who told me wearing those dumb costumes would grab your guys' attention. Now I see, she was probably just trying to humiliate me."

I picked up Kristianna's ring and waved it in Monika's face. "Thanks for the info Monika-la. Now I know you, nor Tally can be trusted."

Turning, I began to walk away. Then I stopped.

"It's funny. At the ice rink, Tally told you she never told me where any of the bashes were. There's another lie." Smirking and satisfied, I walked back to Kristianna, and we walked back to my room arm in arm.

"_Welcome home Anata-la." _Kabuki greeted me. Kristianna plopped onto my bed and I went over to the hole in the wall and stripped, placing the outfit back on its hanger.

"How's your hand?" Kristianna asked.

"It's fine. Nothing serious happened to it, just a few scratches. Plus, the glass on that window was pretty thin, so it didn't actually hurt." I said. I tried to picture a nice, simple Rusty outfit, but nothing came to mind.

Kristianna grunted. "Y'know, I was talking to Jayde earlier this morning, and she said she thinks you should give up on this whole bubbly thing. She says the haze is too overpowering."

I scoffed. "I no longer have any haze. Ever since the floating ice rink trick, I've been constantly bubbly. But I feel like there's something even more bubbly out there, and I wanna find it!"

Hmm…bubble skirts were bubbly. But what would look good with a bubble skirt?

"Kabuki, what do you think would go good with a purple bubble skirt?" I asked the room.

"_A tank top of the same color." _ It answered, and soon I was surrounded by nanos. I surveyed myself in the mirror and smiled. It was cute, not over-sparkly, and bubbly.

"Speaking of bubbles, how is it that you're constantly bubbly, but I hear Tally and Zane are still fighting the haze? Not only that, but Zane has those weird headaches." Kristianna mused.

I rolled my eyes. "Why do I care about King and Queen Crim? What do I owe them?" I asked, putting the outfit away and slipping my black tank and jeans back on.

"Well, I asked Zane why he'd been acting so different and why he hadn't talked to me in a while since becoming pretty, and he said he and Tally found some cure. That the pretty operation does something to your brain, and that's what the haze comes from."

I stared in the mirror at myself. What could the operation do to someone other than make them pretty?

Kristianna came up behind me. "They did something to us in the operating room. All of us. We need to find out what. I have a plan. Since we have Tally's interface ring, we can ping a few of the Crims, and we'll have them rendezvous with some other Rejects from the Swarm sector. There, we can discuss things."

I turned and looked at her. "Look, Kristianna, I've only known you for a day! I want to be bubbly as much as the next pretty, but I can't be a part of this! I don't want to know if they did something to my brain or not! I just want to be pretty! To be accepted!" I backed up against one of the many mirrors in my room. Everything was spinning. Was I really gonna let this girl mess with my brain after only just meeting her the previous afternoon?

"Anata, I know things are scary, but we need to find this out. Who knows what they could be doing to us pretties! If we can find it out, maybe we can stop it!"

Shaking my head and sinking to the floor, I began to weep. Kristianna sat in front of me, crosslegged. She took my hands and sighed.

"This is scary, but it's important. Tomorrow, we meet. Either you're there or you're not. Tonight, we and all the other Reject sectors party at the Pulcher bash. Anata, please stick with us. We're only trying to help you, and all the other pretties."

I sat there for a long time, mulling over what she'd said. It was scary, thinking that there might be something wrong with our brains. I almost wanted to ask Zane if he knew where I could get the cure, but I didn't want to end up all headachy like him. I didn't like the idea of having a meeting with the Crims, but I didn't like the idea of surgeons messing with my head either.

I looked up at Kristianna.

"I'll be there. At the bash and the rendezvous, I mean." I whispered.

"Good." She whispered back.

I wore my bubble skirt and tank top to the bash with a pair of sparkly plum pumps. Kristianna recreated one of my mermaid dresses, and Darren looked great in his gray tux. We waited for all the other Reject sectors to arrive, so we could make a big entrance.

"Amandla said she'd be here soon." Darren said. Amandla was Darren's girlfriend, and the leader of the Swarm sector of the Rejects. From every popular clique came a sector of Rejects. The Swarm, the Bashers, the Naturals, the Crims of course, and many more.

"Jules said her group is gonna make a huge entrance." Kristianna giggled. I was too deep in thought to even crack a smile. I couldn't stop thinking about the earlier conversation.

As the walkway became more crowded with cliques, I saw huge groups of Pretties headed towards us. They broke off from the crowd as they grew closer.

"Meet our sister sectors Anata." Darren whispered in my ear, and held his arms out as Amandla ran into them.

The crowd grew bigger, and I really realized how many pretties weren't 'good enough' for the other cliques. There must have been near a hundred other pretties surrounding us. I heard the fireworks, and saw not only them, but a huge bunch of hot air balloons.

"Jules and the gang are here!" I heard Amandla shout. As the balloons neared the ground, many pretties began hopping out of them and running towards us. The group just kept getting bigger and bigger. I began to think that there were more Rejects than any other clique in New Pretty Town. Honestly, I didn't even mind it. Yes, things were moving quickly and at a really scary pace, but it was so much better than being lonely. For once I, Anata Komatsu, was good enough.

I met the leaders of the different sectors. Amandla, Jules, Michaela, Marianella, Xander, Darrius, Dmitri, and Kristoff were all rejected from different cliques in New Pretty Town, but Darren was the reason the Rejects were an official clique. Well, not official quite yet, but things would change tonight.

We all walked in arm in arm with someone. Kodi was my partner, and he looked absolutely stunning in his black pinstripe suit. His hair, which was once red was now a deep brown. It somehow still fit him, but I guess that was the advantage of being pretty.

The bouncers didn't even try to stop us walking in. I guessed Kristianna's ring hack worked. A path cleared for our massive group. Pretties all stared at us, walking in pairs arm in arm. I preened and held my head high. I was a Reject and I was proud of it. We began to spread out and the other pretties resumed their activities.

We danced and drank for hours, while the occasional Pretty would come up to me and either compliment my outfit or ask which clique I was in. No one knew who the Rejects were, but the more they asked around, the more often I heard the word 'reject' being bounced around the room. I tipped my head back and let the rest of my champagne slide down my throat.

I heard three claps and the room went dark. Lots of screams echoed throughout the room and I was frozen. What was going on. There hadn't been a blackout in a whole century!  
"Hello to all the Pretty cliques in the room!" I heard someone's voice say. I spotlight turned on and Darrius appeared.

"My name is Darrius, and I was once a Pretty with an ambition to be a Basher. It only took one Basher to veto me out. I can't even begin to tell you how much it hurt."

Lots of sad sighs and a few laughs emitted from the crowd. Darren walked up to the spotlight and Darrius put his hand on Darren's shoulder.

"It's because of Darren that a new clique started. A clique for all the pretties that weren't 'good enough' for their choice clique to be accepted into. It's because of Darren that the Rejects were born, and I became the leader of the Basher sector.

I've spent two years in New Pretty Town leading the Basher Rejects. I've made many friends, and the Rejects as a whole have grown in this time. So I say to you, all you Pretty cliques with your strict voting; are you going to deny us as a clique? Are you going to tell us that we aren't 'good enough' to be a clique, because we weren't 'good enough' for your cliques?"

Darren took the mic from Darrius. "Everyone who is a Crim Reject in this room, raise your hand."

Kodi, Merry, Apolla, Paolla, Jayde, Kristianna, myself, and Darren raised our hands.

"Everyone who is a Swarm Reject, raise your hand."

Amandla and at least 20 other Pretties raised their hands.

"Bashers?"

Darrius and 20 more Pretties raised their hands.

"Naturals?"

Marienella and a large group of Pretties raised their hands. At this point, many gasps rang throughout the room. Darren called out more clique names, and more Pretties raised their hands, until almost half the room had their hands raised.

"Do you see this? This is a clique of Pretties that were told they didn't have what it took to be in a certain clique. With the Rejects, your only requirement was being rejected from a clique. So tell me, as the official leader of the Rejects as a whole, do you dare say we aren't good enough to be an official clique? Are we not good enough to be invited to 'cliques only' bashes?"

A solitary clap ran throughout the room. That one person kept clapping and slowly, slowly other Pretties began clapping, cheering us on. One pretty walked up to the spotlight clapping and laughing cruelly.

"Well that was a cute little speech. But, you're not a clique, I didn't invite you, so get the hell out of here!" she yelled at them.

Darren blinked, and then shrugged. "You heard her. We're not wanted here. Rejects, let's go."

I smiled. This was the fun part. I felt a familiar tugging at my shoulders and all of us Rejects shot up into the air. Scrambling for the balconies, our huge crowd made our dramatic exit. I heard screams and gasps as I threw myself onto the balcony and out of the nearest window. The adrenaline pumped through my veins and all I knew was absolute clarity. More Ugly memories flooded me and I drowned in them. So much happiness, anger and hurt.

It made me even bubblier. Still, it wasn't the zenith, and I wouldn't stop until I found it.


	8. That Special Push

I looked at my flash tattoo in the mirror. It was pink lotus bud that bloomed in time with my heart beat. Kristianna had come with me and also gotten a tattoo. Hers was a beating heart, and well, it beat with her heart. It was totally corny, but I didn't her want to give me the evil eye so I said nothing about it.

While Kristianna played around with her nanofacture unit, I looked in her mirror at my face and my new hair. After crashing the party, I felt I needed a representation of my new start as a rebel other than just a tattoo. Now my hair hung to my shoulders and it was a dark red. I also took to wearing bright red lipstick. It looked good on me, and it was certainly more noticeable. I felt like myself again, except, it was myself finally accepting the changes around me. Sure, the past week had been weird and hard to adjust to, but I was slowly growing to like these new changes and I felt more comfortable now than I did trying to impress the Crims.

Tonight was the night of the rendezvous with the Crims and the rest of the Rejects. Shay said to meet them at Cleopatra Park. Why in Uglyville, I'll never know, but whatever. All of the Crim Rejects were meeting in my room and from there, we'd to go to the meeting.

"Maybe you should get a haircut too Kris." I said.

She laughed. "The day I ever get a haircut is the day that Special Circumstances actually exists."

I laughed at sat on her bed, grabbing a blueberry muffin out of the basket that sat on the edge.

"What should we wear to the rendezvous?" Kristianna asked.

I shrugged. "It's not a bash. We need to be secretive, and since it'll be at night, we should all wear black."

Kristianna mumbled to the wall and the nanos formed a black sweatsuit on her. The room pinged, and Jayde's voice filtered in. "Let me in Kris. We gotta talk. I hope Anata's with you because she needs to hear this too."

"Anata's here!" I shouted playfully. Kristianna laughed again and told the room to let her in. I hadn't seen Jayde since the party and I had wondered what she'd been doing this past week.

Jayde came straight to the bed and grabbed a chocolate muffin. Her face looked weird, like it wasn't really her face. I said nothing about it though.

"You smell confused Anata-la." She said. Her voice was dramatically changed, but it sounded familiar somehow, like razor blades cutting through flesh.

"What did you need to tell us Jayde? We have to prepare for the rendezvous." Kristianna asked.

"Oh, I'm not going to the rendezvous, but what I have to say is important. It's about the Crims. More importantly, it's about Tally, Shay and Zane."

"Don't tell me you're one of them now." I spit at her.

"Shut up Anata." Jayde hissed. She sounded inhuman now. I cringed. What had happened to her, and why did her razor-laced voice sound so familiar?

"Sorry. Really, I am." I said, looking down at the floor.

"Whatever." Jayde lightly punched my arm and continued. "Anyways, Shay's planning to run away, with some of the Crims. Tally's also planning to run away, but not with Shay. They have some beef with each other back from the Ugly days, so now they're all of a sudden not friends. Apparently, Tally, Shay and I share an Ugly story. All of our friends turned Pretty, and we were left all alone in Uglyville, staring woefully at the party spires of New Pretty Town, wishing we could be there. Tally met Shay, and I met Kassima. Kassima and Shay both wanted to run away to this place called The Smoke. They wanted to stay Ugly forever.

"Of course, I called Kassima crazy, and stayed in Uglyville while she ran away. Then, I met Dr. Cable. Dr. Cable is the head of Special Circumstances. Yeah, it's real. Dr. Cable gave me a silver bracelet with a tracker inside of it and forced me to follow Kassima to the Smoke, and she also forced Tally to follow Shay. We didn't go together. I followed behind Tally because it seemed like she knew where she was going, as if she had directions of some sort. I didn't actually go to the meeting spot until a week after Tally did. I knew I needed to seem inconspicuous, as ridiculous at it may seem. I mean, two runaways finding the Smoke all by themselves?

"Anyways, I kinda stalked Tally. After all, she was in the same sitch I was in, you know? David, whom I call the Child of the Smoke, since his parents founded it and he was born there, fell in love with Tally. At first he was with Shay, but then he ditched her. Anyways, Tally threw her tracker into a fire, which set it off. We didn't find out until the Specials came and destroyed everything."

"Oh my God…" I heard Kristianna whisper.

"It was for the greater good. After all, the people in the Smoke lied to us. They said we'd have a better life out there in the wild, living like Rusties! No offense, Anata."

"None taken. I just like their clothing style, not their lifestyle. After all, they did nearly wipe themselves out." I said

"Right. So that's why I'm glad the Specials came. Apparently though, Tally and Shay are idiots, because they want to keep living that way."

"They're running away from the operation. Jayde, what did they do to us in there?" Kristianna asked.

Jayde smiled. "Lesions. Brain lesions to keep us happy and obedient. We'd never get along with our aggression still intact, so it's nothing more than a little fine tuning."

Kristianna raised an eyebrow. "Fine tuning? Messing with our brains is fine tuning?"

"That brings us back to Tally and Zane. And you, Anata."

"Me?" I asked. She nodded. "You and Tally and Shay are Ugly minded Pretties. You thought your way out of the lesions. Zane didn't."

"What happened to Zane?" Kristianna asked.

Jayde frowned. "The Smoke. David's mother, Maddy made a 'cure' for the Pretty operation. It was two pills. One had nanos that would eat away the lesions, and the other stopped the nanos from reproducing. Zane took the nano pill. Tally took the blank one."

"We have to help him!" I shouted. "What can we do? Does Dr. Cable know? Maybe she can help!"

"Zane was in the hospital a while ago. They brought the nanos to a halt, but most of his motor functions are ruined now. It's as if he had a stroke. There may not be hope for him."

Kristianna began to cry. I couldn't move. I was so angry. Not only did they trick so many Uglies, but now Zane was becoming a vegetable.

"Damn her. Damn that Maddy! Damn the Smoke! Ugh!" I threw a pillow at the wall. Jayde hugged me. I noticed she'd gotten taller; she used to be my height.

"Join me Anata. Kristianna. We can prevent this from happening again." Jayde said, releasing me and smiling widely.

"Join…how?" I asked. Jayde twisted her interface ring, and her face was surrounded by smart plastic dust. She spit something out into her hand. Teeth caps?

When the dust cleared, I found myself staring into the eyes of a she-wolf.

"Join me in Special Circumstances. You can be harder, better, faster, and stronger than ever before. Anata, you can be even more than bubbly. You can be _icy._ There is a bubbly Zenith, and Special Circumstances is it. So what'll it be?"

Jayde stared at me and I sighed.

"Okay." I said.

"Let me tell you something you don't want to hear." Shay said, pulling her soaked cloak off, and holding her arms out. It was raining heavily, and I shivered.

I had smart plastic on my face. I was posing as Jayde. She was with the Specials, hiding in the trees.

"From the moment we are born, we are considered threats in need of "special" management. We are watched and shaped and exploited by a force most of us never see. Self- appointed guardians who steal our faces, our bodies, our freedoms, our memories and our minds. All to keep us safe."

I rolled my eyes and I heard Kristianna scoff. Those "self-appointed guardians" were the reason this city was peaceful. If Shay realized that, maybe she wouldn't be covered in scratches.

"So you have to ask yourself: is it working? Do you feel _safe_!? Or do you feel like you're in a cage?"

_'I'd feel safer without crazies like you running around.' _I thought.

"The surgery that made us "pretty" also places lesions in our _brains_. Pretty little lesions to make us Pretty-minded little _fools_!"

"You're the fool, Shay." Kristianna whispered. I sniggled, then coughed when one of the other Pretties stared at me.

"I'll tell you another secret they don't want you to know. Deep down inside you, you still have a voice! And that voice led you here, to the Cutters, so that you could free it once again!"

Shay pulled out a knife and held it against her arm. I gasped. Those weren't scratches? Those were self-inflicted wounds!?

She sliced her arm and smiled as the blood trickled down it. The other pretties walked over to her and they all took turns slicing their arms. I felt sick. This was _sick_.

"J-Jayde, we might wanna move in. This is _crazy! _They're cutting themselves to be bubbly!"

"_Not yet. First we have to wait till Tally leaves, then we'll make our move." _

"But-" I heard Shay shout, and turned to see her running towards someone.

"Is Zane okay?" Shay yelled. I saw Tally and an unconscious Zane on a hoverboard speeding away.

"Did you really just ask that Shay?" I said. They all gasped.

"Who the hell are you?" She spit at me.

"That's not important. What is important is that Zane isn't okay. Zane's dying, because your precious Smokies decided to give him and Tally some pills!"

Shay narrowed her eyes at me. "How would you know that?"

"I was there. I've seen the Smoke. I've seen the pills. I was there when you helped Tally write the letter giving consent for her to test the pills. Or are you so full of yourself that you completely forgot about that?"

All of the other Pretties gasped.  
"She…she was telling the truth?" Shay asked.

I nodded. "The pills were supposed to be taken together. One pill has nanos in it that eat away the lesions. The other was blank, meant to stop the nanos from reproducing. Zane took the nano pill and Tally took the blank one. That's why he's been having those headaches. The nanos are eating away at his brain. It's all Maddy's fault he's dying!"

"This isn't Maddy's fault. She's only trying to help-"

"Those Smokies are kidnapping and killing us Shay! They're destroying our peace and reverting us into Rusties! Do you want another near wipeout of the human race? Or do you want us to succeed this time?" I spat at her.

The Pretties all stared at me and Kristianna put her hand on my shoulder and smiled.

Soon, the whirring of lifting fans filled the air.

"Is that-" Shay's eyes filled with horror.

"Special Circumstances? Why yes it is." I smiled at them as they all began screaming. They scattered, and Shay fought, but the Specials caught them all in almost a minute. Jayde approached Kristianna and I, clapping and smiling. Another Special came up to us. She was a Middle Pretty.

"Hello girls. I'm Dr. Cable. I'd like to thank you from preventing their escape. Now we can protect our children."

"Anything to prevent another poor soul from meeting Zane's fate, Doctor." Kristianna said.

The woman smiled at me. "And you, Anata. You were great. They need to know that we're trying to protect them and that Maddy is a liar. Shame though, if she and that husband of hers hadn't been so nosy, we wouldn't be having to go this far."

I twisted my interface ring and the smart plastic exploded into dust. Shay saw this and her eyes narrowed. She shouted something at me, but the Special holding her slapped her hand over her mouth.

"Dr. Cable, what are we going to do with them? They all know about the lesions now." Jayde questioned her.

"Well, I think Shay and her "Cutters" might be a good addition to Special Circumstances. As for you and your Rejects, you'll also be made into Specials." Dr. Cable smiled at us, her sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight.

"Come on kiddos. Let's get you to the operating table." Jayde nudged us towards one of the hovercars. She sat shotgun next to Dr. Cable and Kristianna and I sat in the back.

It took about an hour to get to Special Circumstances headquarters. Two male Specials led us to two operating rooms.

"See you on the other side Anata-la." Kristianna said as one of the Specials took her inside one of the rooms.

"You too Kris." I said. The other Special turned me around, led me inside the room and hoisted me up on the table.

"Thanks mister." I said. He barked out a short laugh and the door closed behind him. The operators strapped me down and closed the breathing mask over my nose and mouth.

"You're a lucky girl Ms. Komatsu." One of them said. I closed my eyes and remembered my dream of the she-wolf. I was becoming one of them.

The world went dark and my mind went blank.

_"Anata, this is Dr. Cable. Welcome back. We here at Special Circumstances welcome you and the Rejects to a new life. A better life. No one's as Special as they could be. We all need a little push._"

I opened my eyes to an absolutely icy world.


	9. The Catalyst

I never expected to be in the same room as Shay and Tally and be civil at the same time. They weren't enemies now. They were allies. Now they were going to help Dr. Cable destroy the Smoke for good.

"Well Cutters, this is what you're going to do. You are going to follow a group of your little Crim friends to wherever this New Smoke may be. You are going to capture anyone who tries to run away. We can't have them slip away from us again. Understood?"

"Understood." I tapped my fingers in the large table. I wanted to be the one to destroy the Smoke.

The Cutters filed out of the room and Dr. Cable smiled at us.

"Anata, you look upset. What's troubling you?"

I sighed. "Zane was never a friend of mine. Be that as it may, he's dying because of the Smokies. I want the Rebels to be the ones to destroy the Smoke, not the Cutters!"

I hadn't noticed that I'd stood up. I had noticed that my hands had made dents in the table.

"Who are the Rebels, Anata?" Dr. Cable asked.

I shook my head. "I just thought…when we were in New Pretty Town, we pitied ourselves because we couldn't get into certain cliques. Why pity ourselves now? We're better than them. We aren't sad little Rejects anymore. We are Rebels. We've fought the city and the Norm. Now we only answer to one person, and she's the one who gave us this icy new life, made us better."

Darren shrugged. "All in favor of calling ourselves the Rebels?"

Everyone raised their hand except for Dr. Cable. She had no say in our personal meetings.

"Let me tell you all something." Dr. Cable said, smiling widely. "The Cutters aren't going to the real Smoke."

"But you said-"Kodi started. Dr. Cable shushed him.

"True, Maddy and David are responsible for Zane's condition. But they aren't responsible for all of our Pretties waking up. There is a city called Diego. They've been mass producing those pills and soon it's going to destroy our peace. We need to destroy them first and get our Pretties back under control."

Everyone gasped except for me. "So, who's going to capture David and Maddy, and who's going to destroy Diego?" I asked.

Apolla raised her hand, which was covered in black flash tattoos. "Paolla and I can handle David and Maddy. They might be wild, but they're not icy." She said smoothly.

"So then the rest of us can take down Diego. How do we do it?" I asked.

"Since when did you decide to call the shots, Anata? _"I'm _the leader, remember?" Darren spat at me.

"Hmm, Darren, you were the leader of the Rejects. Jayde came to Kristianna and I when she became Special, and I was the one who took her place at the rendezvous when we captured the Cutters. I woke up first. I took control then. Have you noticed that they've been answering to me all month? During training, I called the shots, not you. I'm the one who renamed us just now. _I _am the leader of the Rebels, not you. You answer to _me._"

Darren's face twisted in anger. "Like hell I will! Fine, who's in favor of _Anata _being our leader?"

Everyone except for Darren raised their hands. Dr. Cable chuckled as she raised her hand.

"Majority rules, Darren." Jayde said.

Darren said nothing as she stood up, sending his chair flying behind him, and ran out of the room.

Dr. Cable rolled her eyes and pushed a button on the table.

"_Yes Doctor?" _a male voice asked.

"I need one of my Specials contained. Darren Kohlver."

"_I just saw the brat. I'll go get him."_

"Darren isn't being very icy today." I purred. Dr. Cable smiled at me.

"You asked how we're going to get rid of Diego. I was thinking missiles and bombs, but I don't want to be totally Rusty. After all, it's Rusty enough, destroying a whole city."

"Maybe…nanos?" I said. I reached under the table and pulled up a large hologram projector.

"So Doctor, what does this 'Diego' look like?" I asked, passing the projector to Kristianna.

Dr. Cable went into a long winded description of the city. Slowly, it came to life on the projector. I pulled a vial of nanos out of my pocket and placed it onto the table, being super careful with it.

When the two finished, there was a mini city sitting in the middle of the table.

"How long would it take to wipe out the city with a vial of nanos this big?" I asked, pointing to the container.

"Hours. We need a lot more than that, Anata-la. We also need to take into consideration how much resistance we'll meet, because no doubt, they're gonna fight for their home."

"In which case, we bring a lot of Specials with us to capture the people, and then destroy the city." Kodi said.

"Kodi, don't be stupid. Our Specials cannot take an entire city prisoner! The only reason that they took the first Smoke was because it was some crumblies and Uglies!" Jayde shouted. Kodi shot her an ugly look and it took both Apolla and Paolla to get them calm. Kristianna sat typing on the projector.

"The way I see it, the only way we're gonna destroy Diego for good is to have casualties. That's what happens in war. There are prisoners and casualties. Our city doesn't need any more people. We just need to re-bubblehead our Pretties."

"Well Dr. Cable, I think we'll need some of your missiles and bombs because I do not think nanos alone will take out Diego. I think we should wipe out the city with the heavy weight weapons and clean up the mess with the nanos. Bodies included."

"That sounds good to me." Kristianna said. She typed on the projector again and began destroying the mini city with bombs and missiles along with some nanos. The city crumbled and the silvery goo began to devour it.

"If we strike at dawn, by the end of the day, there should be nothing but dirt." Kristianna said.

"All in favor?" I said. Everyone raised their hands.

"Icy." I said, and everyone lowered their hands. I smiled. I was getting things done.

"Will you be joining us Doctor?" Jayde asked. She nodded and pushed the button again.

"_Yes Doctor?" _Maximilla Feaster's voice filtered into the room.

"Tonight, we go to Diego. At dawn we destroy the city. Get as many heavy duty firearms and bombs as we can pack. We're also going to need lots of nanos."

"_Nanos?"_

"We'll need them to clean up the mess. However, if Maddy and her son David are in Diego, I want them ALIVE. Do you hear me?"

"_Loud and clear Doctor. I'll send out the call now."_

Dr. Cable turned back to us. "Apolla and Paolla, you're going to go first. You need to make sure you have Maddy and David alive."

She passed them some smart plastic and a couple of dresses. "You're going to need disguises, and you'll also need to act Pretty. See if you can catch up with the Cutters."

The two of them silently molded the smart plastic on each other's faces. Before long, they looked like two twin Pretties fresh out of the operating room. They took the dresses and slipped them over their heads and turned towards us.

"Excellent. You're free to go." We all stood and filed out, Apolla and Paolla going ahead. We passed a bunch of Specials carrying weaponry to the fighter machines and some that were carefully handling containers of nanos. Seeing the nanos made me think about Zane. How he was now a vegetable laying in a hospital bed. He wasn't going to recover, but Tally wouldn't let anyone unplug him from life support.

"I want David and Maddy to pay for what they did to Zane. I want them to pay for Tally's pain." I hissed.

"Since when do you care about Tally Youngblood?" Jayde asked.

"I _don't _care about her, but no one should have to suffer like she is. David and Maddy basically murdered her boyfriend with those damn pills." I glanced at Jayde. "What do you care about it?"

"I just don't want you running off with them and cutting yourself to stay icy. You're my friend. You're the reason I kept looking for clarity, and I found it."

"The reason they cut themselves is because they don't know another way to stay icy." We had reached the hover cars and we climbed in the backseat. Dr. Cable rode shotgun and another Special got in the driver's seat. "They don't know that you only need yourself and the world around you to be icy, because the world itself is icy. Nature is beautiful and icy all on its own."

"That was deep." Dr. Cable laughed. I shrugged and ate a protein bar. Empty stomachs so weren't icy.

In the reflection of the rearview mirror, I saw my dark green eyes. They no longer had jewel dust inside of them. Jewel dust was for bubbleheads. My eyes were for striking fear into randoms' hearts, my nose for detecting what was undetectable, my teeth for ripping, my nails for clawing and gripping, my sensitive fingertips for detecting vibrations and my ears for hearing. I could even hear dog whistles now. All of me was made for the wild.

"I never did ask, how long will it take us to get to Diego?" Kodi asked.

"A few hours, so I suggest you all get some rest." Dr. Cable said. We all stretched and relaxed. I set my catnap mode to ping me every thirty minutes and closed my eyes.

_Ping._

I opened my eyes. Everyone except the driver was sleeping. I closed my eyes again

_Ping._

Dr. Cable was awake and typing something. I reached in my pocket for another protein bar and ate half of it. I sighed. "How many more hours?"

"Two. Apolla and Paolla said they're close to the city and that Tally and Shay split up. I'm not surprised."

I shrugged and closed my eyes again.

_Ping._

Everyone was awake and tense. I switched catnap mode off. I didn't like sleeping when I wasn't tired. "Any news?" I asked.

"Maddy has a cure for Specials. She cured all of the Cutters except for Tally."

I sucked in a quick breath. "Apolla and Paolla?"

"They captured David, Maddy and the Cutters. They're fine. They're bringing them back to headquarters with some of our non-treacherous Specials. Maddy is going to be arrested for Zane's death and David is going to be turned Pretty." Dr. Cable said with a hint of a smile in her voice.

"Good. Now… to get rid of Diego." I said, crossing my arms and glaring out of the window.


	10. Ice Cold Leader

"You are _traitors_. All of you."

I stared out the window of the hovercar that held the Cutters captive.

"You were made to protect your city, not to betray it. I expected it from Shay since she loves being Rusty with the Smoke. I guess the rest of you were just playing Follow the Leader."

The destruction of Diego was going very smoothly. Most of the buildings were gone and the Specials had very little problem keeping the citizens inside the city. Soon, they were going to drop the nanos on the rubble. I didn't want to be around when the living citizens met their gooey end.

"Well _traitors, _you're going to be punished. Shay, since you love love _love _David so much, you can be with him again. You're all going back to bubbleheadedness. Back to the Pretty minded little fools you once were. I think that's the best punishment."

I smiled widely as their faces ranged from fear to anger to sadness to regret. I turned back to the window and watched as the nanos rained down on the remains of Diego. This was the best revenge against those who defied our city. The bubblehead surgery was the only way to keep the peace.

"You won't get away with this." Shay growled at me. I turned around and kicked her in the stomach. She doubled over in pain and groaned.

"You have no say in what happens to you anymore. None of you. You brought this onto yourselves. All you had to do was protect your city, but that's just too damn much to ask for!" I kicked Shay in the stomach three more times, then stomped back to the window. I opened my skintenna feed and I immediately got a ping from Paolla.

_"They have a cure for Specials. Apolla and I destroyed the files and syringes. All of this is so messed up."_

"Yeah, I knew about the cure. Good on you for destroying the evidence."

_"What's going to happen to the traitors?"_

I barked a short laugh. "They're going back to being bubbleheads. Have you found Tally?"

_"We did. She's coming back with us, but…"_

"But _what?_" I hissed.

I heard Paolla sigh. _"She wants to join us. She wants to be a Rebel. She said that she'd do anything to stay Special, even if that means-"_

I shut off my skintenna feed. For the first time in a long time, I was speechless.

The ride back to the city was silent. I spent a lot of time thinking. Tally wanted to be a Rebel. _Tally _of all people. I was the one who had to make the choice. When we became Special, we said that the leader made all the choices, including who would join our team. Tally had been so horrible to me in the Pretty days, but she didn't want to be cured, and she helped us destroy Diego. I didn't know what to do.

"If Tally joins the Rebels, will she be a strength or a weakness? She's able to rewire herself, she's a good ally, and if she truly works for Dr. Cable and not for Shay…maybe…"

I sat there, thinking heavily on it. Maybe, just maybe Tally could be a good addition in my life…

"Kris! Your hair!"

Kristianna's hair was short and black, shorter than mine. It was longer in the front, reaching her chin, then slowly got shorter in the back, which touched the nape of her neck.

"You remember when I said the day I got a haircut was the day that Special Circumstances was real?" She gestured towards her face and her hair. "Yeah. I decided to keep that promise." I laughed and punched her arm. Dr. Cable walked up to us, the rest of the Rebels and Tally following behind her. Tally walked over to me hesitantly.

"Thank you, Anata." She said.

"For what?"

"For sticking up for Zane. You were right, it is stupid to want to live like a Rusty. After all, Zane is…" she trailed off and backed away.

"They took him off of life support. He's…ah… in a better place, I guess." Apolla said.

I walked over to Tally and took her hand.

"It's truly terrible what happened to Zane. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Not even on Shay and the rest of them." I said to her. She didn't look up at me, just whispered another _thank you. _

"Well Rebels, and Tally, who's ready to watch the surgery?" Dr. Cable said. Tally snapped to attention and I nodded at her.

"Make that just Rebels, Doctor." I said. They all looked at me.

"Tally's been through enough. Let us not leave her stranded with no one to fall back on. Okay?" I realized, just how sorry I felt for Tally. The Prettytime didn't matter to me anymore. I wanted her to be happy, and not alone. She had no one now.

They all looked at each other, then they all gave a thumbs up.

"Alright then, let's go." Dr. Cable led us to the operating room, where we all sat in front of a huge tank. They had just begun to lower David's body into the surgical fluid.

"First, we have to cut away his skin and grind down his bones into the proper shapes."

We all groaned as the knives began to slowly cut away at his skin. Filing tools began to go at his bones and I felt my stomach lurch.

"This is so much worse than SpagBol." I heard Tally whisper. What the hell was SpagBol?

I covered my eyes and heard Dr. Cable laugh.

"Once you see enough of these surgeries, you won't even feel remotely grossed out."

I peeked out through one eye and saw a needle inject something into David's muscles. The filing tools were gone, robotic arms were sewing him back together and the fluid was healing him. When his skin fully closed up, Dr. Cable spoke again.

"His muscles were pretty strong already, so we increased his endurance slightly. He had very little fat on his body so no liposuction had to be done. Now, we will inject his lips with collagen, perform a rhinoplasty and make his eyes Pretty-sized."

A needle jabbed his lower and upper lips, which slowly thickened up. Scalpels surrounded his nose and eyes.

I covered my eyes again. This was almost as bad as nanos consuming dead bodies.

I slowly lowered my hands from my face and saw the scalpels cutting his eyelids, then robotic arms positioning them and sewing them together. A needle injected his irises and they turned a deep blue.

The operating fluid was a light pink now, slightly darker where David had recently bled.

"We're almost done. All we have to do now is the brain surgery and the beta hydroxy acid peel and he'll be good and Pretty." Dr. Cable smiled.

The scalpels cut at the base of his neck and robotic arms peeled back the skin. That was all I could see. Two strange tools were poking at him and I assumed they were giving him lesions.

His facial expression changed. His eyebrows untensed, his mouth relaxed and he looked at peace, like a Pretty should be. The robotic arms began sewing the skin back together and the operating fluid received another shade of pink.

"That fluid sure heals fast." I muttered.

"It has to. Now, we begin the beta hydroxy acid peel. This is how we get rid of blemishes and make Pretty skin soft and even toned."

Some strange looking tools began to run over his body and I saw dead skin slowly peeling away. I heard Kodi groan in disgust.

David's face became less bumpy and the skin tone slowly began to match. I saw his eyebrow scar peel away little by little. The tools that administered the acid retracted from the tank and the fluid filtered out. Another liquid poured into the tank and waterfalled over David, washing away the rest of the peeled skin and blood.

The table rose up and two surgeons transferred him to a gurney. They wheeled him out, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. That was one of the most awful things I've ever had to witness.

"Wow. David… David's Pretty now." Tally whispered.

"David's Pretty, Maddy is imprisoned for good, and Diego is gone. The city is at peace, for now. Who knows what other city is going to try and recreate the Smoke?" Dr. Cable said while crossing her arms. I began to think deeply. What _if _another city tried to do what the Smoke and Diego did?

"Congratulations, you've survived the hour. You can follow me to watch Shay's surgery or you can go on with your business." Dr. Cable walked away and the rest of us scattered. None of us wanted to sit through another surgery.

I turned to Tally and grabbed her shoulder as she began to walk away.

"What's SpagBol?" I asked. She wrinkled her brows.

"What?" she said.

"Well, during the operation, you said watching it was worse than SpagBol. What's SpagBol?"

Tally began to laugh. "Did I really say that? Well, when Dr. Cable blackmailed me into betraying the Smoke, she sent me off with a lot of reheating food packets. The thing was, they were all SpagBol. SpagBol is short for spaghetti Bolognese."

"Wow. Talk about devoid of variety." I snorted.

Tally laughed again. "You know, as long as I never have to eat SpagBol again, I'll be just fine."

I chuckled a little then sighed.

"Something wrong?"

I nodded. "What if the Crims rewire themselves again? Do we just keep dumbing them down until they're practically brain dead?"

Tally shrugged. "I have no clue."

I glanced at her arms, full of hash marks and broken flash tattoo circuitry.

"You know, you don't have to cut yourself to stay Icy. Be one with nature and it will always be there."

"What do you mean?" Tally looked at me confused.

I looked her dead in the eyes. "Nature is beautiful on its own. Feral beauty, everlasting power, that's what makes it Icy. What makes _us _Icy."

Tally still looked confused, so I pulled her outside. The trees were covered in frost and the air was cold and piercing.

I sat crosslegged on the ground and gestured to Tally to do the same.

"Take a deep breath. Smell the trees, feel the cold air around us, listen to the sounds of the night. Be _Icy._"

I inhaled and could smell the sharp pine tree scent. It was almost as sharp as the cold wind against my skin. I sensed for the sounds of the animals scurrying through the trees, gathering food and staying clear of predators.

Tonight, the only real predators were Tally and I, because we were absolutely Icy.


	11. Confusion

I woke up with sunlight streaming into my face. It had been a month since the Crims and David were turned Pretty, and today, Tally, Jayde, Kodi and I were being sent into New Pretty Town to monitor them. I heard Tally groan on the bunk underneath me. Kodi was sitting upright, eating a protein bar and drinking a protein shake. I think he might be addicted to them. Well, who couldn't resist chocolate unless they were allergic to it?

I hopped out of my bunk and shook Tally until she swatted me away.

"Get up Tally. We've got a job to do." I said loudly. Kodi tossed me a protein bar and a shake packet. Jayde wasn't in the room. She was in front of our shared nanofacture unit, picking out a pretty outfit and smart plastic. The best thing about our nanofacture unit was that it did the smart plastic for us, and that was a plus for Jayde because she was a horrible sculptor.

"We need fake names." I said, pouring the milkshake into a water bottle and shaking it.

"I'll be Jenna." Jayde said, sticking her tongue out at her smart plastic Pretty face.

"Keith for me." Kodi said, stepping up to the nanofacture machine.

"I guess I'll be Tamara." Tally said, snatching a PadThai packet and her water purifier.

"Anastasia. She was a Rusty princess." I said, opening a pack of CurryNoods.

Tally smirked at me. "Is that what you are? A Princess?"

I shook my head. "I just like her name. I remember reading about her when I was a littlie, wishing I could be beautiful like her. That was when I decided I wanted to be the most beautiful Pretty in all of New Pretty Town. That ambition didn't last long."  
"Why?" Jayde asked.

My water purifier beeped at me. "The Crims." I whispered.

Tally stiffened, then walked out of the room.

Kodi sat on the bed next to me and took my hand. "The Crims are done, Anata-la. Besides, you got us this icy new life! You and Kristianna helped destroy Diego with that amazing plan you guys made up, the twins captured David and Maddy, all because of you!"

I looked at Kodi, my eyes searching his. Even under his Pretty disguise, he still had that Special edge to him. Not even the smart plastic could hide that.

Jayde stood in front of me, her Special stare still showing through her Prettyfied eyes.

"It wasn't the Crims that changed your ambition. It was _you._ You did it. You kept searching for a way out of the haze, even when your world was changing so rapidly it scared you, you still kept going."

I nodded slowly. "Although, I still wonder why Darren was so mad about being replaced. I mean, no one likes being replaced, but he looked like he wanted to kill me."

Kodi laughed. "Darren has always been like that. When any of us challenged any of his plans, he would blow up at us, especially when we were Uglies."

Jayde rolled her eyes. "Remember when we hoverboarded to the rapids and he wanted to go to the real Rusty Ruins after I told you guys about Kassima and David, and then most of us said no and he went on this ridiculous rant about how cowardly we were?"

Kodi smacked his forehead with his hand. "Oh my freaking god, I wanted to knock him out when he did that. I don't know what Amandla saw in that psycho."

"Makes me wonder why we even stayed friends with him in the first place. I guess maybe I thought he would be different as a Pretty, but he wasn't." Jayde said.

I walked up to the nanofacture unit and began punching in info. I created a pretty face close to the real Anastasia's and my old blue taffeta mermaid dress.

Kodi walked up behind me and whispered in my ear, "No matter what face you wear, you're still stunningly beautiful."

If Specials could blush, I would have right then and there. It had never occurred to me that Kodi had even the slightest bit of interest in me. I remembered thinking he was attractive when we crashed that party, but I'd known the guy two days. It's been almost three months since I met him, but he still never really showed much interest in me. Maybe he isn't and just said that just to say it.

Kodi turned me around and looked at my Prettyfied face.

"Under that smart plastic, I can still see the Special in you. You're so icy Anata-la." He whispered again, and that blushing feeling came back. Why was he being all mushy?

"Um, thanks I guess." I said, squirming out of his grip. I walked over to Jayde, who was waiting at the hovercar.

"You smell weird Anata. Did Kodi say something back there to freak you out?" Jayde looked like she was ready to punch his lights out.

I shook my head. "I've never had a guy compliment me before. Not since Darren…"

I'd never liked Darren more than in a friendly way, and he was faithful to Amandla. So why was _Kodi_ making me feel weird?

"You've never had a boyfriend before, have you?" I heard Tally ask behind me.

I swallowed, wishing we'd just get in the stupid car already.

"Can we _not_ talk about this right now? I'm confused enough as it is, I just want to get this stupid assignment done already!" I shouted, the razors in my voice sharper than ever. Jayde reached out towards me and I shoved her away.

"Don't touch me! Don't talk to me, don't ask me questions, just _LEAVE ME ALONE_!" I ran back into the building, shaking and angry. Why did a few words from Kodi make me feel so freaked out?

I bumped into Dr. Cable and fell down.

"What's wrong Anata? You seem upset about something."

Still shaking, I pulled my knees up to my chest. "Send someone else in my place." I whispered. I'd do any other assignment so long as I didn't have to be around Kodi.

"Anata, you're the leader of the Rebels. Unless you're feeling unwell, which is impossible, you need to go. Unless you _want _to go back to being a bubblehead."

I looked up at her in horror. Go back to being vain, shallow and stupid? No…

I stood up and walked back to the hovercar. Being a bubblehead again was the _last_ thing I wanted.


End file.
